Shares had earlier been pushed down by a German Index from the Mannheim-based think tank ZEW. The monthly survey plummeted for the fifth consecutive month to a reading of 33.1 in May. This was the lowest level since January 2013 and was worse than analysts had predicted in a Reuters poll.

However, the German DAX still closed up 0.6 percent after the report was published.

This was partly due to reports that Germany was now willing to back a negative rate on bank deposits and purchases of packaged loans by the European Central Bank (ECB).This improves the prospect of the ECB announcing policy action at its next Governing Council meeting.

French plane maker Airbus closed up around 6.5 percent, after reporting a narrower-than-expected 5 percent drop in core earnings.

However, the U.K.'s EasyJet closed down around 4.2 percent. This was despite the airline delivering earnings that beat its own forecasts, and highlighting that it was on track for more organic growth in 2014.

Carolyn McCall, CEO of easyJet, says the company is growing in its core markets but is not expanding into completely new regions. McCall also defends the price structure at easyJet, saying that there are "no bolstering add-ons".